


Wrong Words Seem to Rhyme

by todxrxki



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Mostly Fluff, background bokuaka - Freeform, background kagehina (unresolved), background tsukkiyama - Freeform, kuroo is a jock and kenma is a loner and it's the most cliche thing ever sue me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 10:18:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18658444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/todxrxki/pseuds/todxrxki
Summary: If Kenma thought about every single thing he hated about the people in his school and tied it up in one tidy package with a bow on top, he’s pretty sure it would result in Tetsurou Kuroo.Kenma is the self-proclaimed 'high school loser' who despises all that his high school has to offer, most notably popular jock Tetsurou Kuroo. However, when Tetsurou gets assigned as his chemistry tutor, he might have to reconsider all of his assumptions.





	Wrong Words Seem to Rhyme

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in America, hence the use of first names!

_Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep._

 

Kenma Kozume groans loudly into the darkness of his room, one of his hands shooting out from under his blanket to grope around on his bedside table for his alarm. It’s time for another day at what Kenma thinks equates to basically hell on earth, as dramatic as it may sound. Kenma _despises_ school: always has, always will. Oil and water, he thinks with some degree of chagrin.

 

He drags himself out of bed, slipping into his jeans and hoodie, and making sure to tuck his PSP into the big pocket of his hoodie. School would be utterly unbearable without it. He heads down to the kitchen, picking up a piece of toast his mom has so kindly left in the toaster for him.

 

“The bus will be here in five minutes,” his mom says. “Can’t you set your alarm for like, two minutes earlier?”

 

“No,” Kenma says as he nibbles on the slice of toast.

 

“Difficult child,” she mutters under her breath. Kenma downs a glass of milk and rapidly shoves everything into his bag. Before he leaves, his mother sees him off with a quick kiss to his cheek and a, “Have fun at school today.”

 

“What an oxymoron.” Kenma wrinkles up his nose.

 

His mother rolls his eyes at him as he walks out the door, but he’s only speaking the truth. Kenma is of the strong opinion that whoever said that high school is the best time in a person’s life must be the biggest idiot on the planet. Either that, or they must have been one of the self-absorbed, judgmental ‘popular’ students that rule his high school. The people that are amazing at a particular sport, the people that attend parties every single weekend, the people that always look as though they have it all together. Not the people like Kenma that spend their free time playing video games and, well, truthfully, not much else.

 

He boards the bus sluggishly and finds Shouyou waiting for him. As always, Shouyou beams at Kenma from ear to ear as Kenma drops down in the seat next to him. “Hey, good morning, Kenma! Today’s gonna be a good day, don’t you think?”

 

“Why would I think that?” Kenma responds absently.

 

“Because…” Shouyou says, then scratches his chin. “Actually, I don’t know why. I just think today is gonna be a really good day!”

 

It’s so unbelievably Shouyou that Kenma just has to chuckle to himself. Shouyou is relentlessly optimistic. He sees the good in absolutely everyone and everything, which, Kenma thinks, is probably one reason Shouyou still hangs around Kenma, despite Kenma’s reputation for being a boring, geeky loner. Kenma shakes his head. “No day at school is ever good.”

 

“Not if you think like that!”

 

“Sure,” Kenma says wryly. “Maybe something magical will happen today. Who knows.” He frowns and tugs his PSP out of his pocket, starting it up.

 

“What are you playing?”

 

“Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker again. It’s one of the better games in the series, so it’s worth another playthrough.”

 

“Oh, cool! That guy’s Snake, right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

It goes on like that until they finally get to school and Kenma’s forced to stash his PSP away. He drags his feet to his first class of the day, which unfortunately is Chemistry, one of his least favorite classes. Chemistry requires a conscious effort that Kenma is not willing to give. Kenma can make up bullshit in English to get himself a passing grade; he can apply the basic rules of logic in math. He hates PE with every cell in his body, but fortunately his teacher doesn’t pay a ton of attention to him. History just requires rote memorization. But Chemistry requires he think about things - about the things that the world is made up of - and something about it just doesn’t make _sense_ to Kenma.

 

It might also just be because he tends to zone out during lectures, but it’s not like he knows how to fix that, exactly.

 

After class, his teacher, Mrs. Kirkwood, stops him with a firm, “Kenma. Can I talk to you for a second?”

 

Kenma sighs to himself, making sure to avoid eye contact. “Yes. What about?”

 

“Well, unfortunately, it seems that your grade in this class has slipped below passing level,” Mrs. Kirkwood says. “Obviously, I want to help you in any way I can to fix that before the end of the year. The good news, though, is that I’ve found a student that is willing to tutor you during free period, and he has the highest GPA in the class. He’s also a very sociable person, so I don’t think you should have any problems.”

 

Kenma feels his face pale at the description ‘very sociable person’. Historically, he has not gotten along well at all with any person in their high school who could be described that way, so he says, “Uh, who exactly?”

 

“I believe the two of you know each other already,” Mrs. Kirkwood says. “Tetsurou Kuroo?”

 

_Well, damn it all to hell._

 

.

 

If Kenma thought about every single thing he hated about the people in his school and tied it up in one tidy package with a bow on top, he’s pretty sure it would result in Tetsurou Kuroo.

 

He and Tetsurou have gone to school together since his last year of middle school, when Tetsurou moved to Kenma’s relatively smaller town from a glitzy city upstate. Immediately, Tetsurou’s popularity skyrocketed. He joined the basketball team, which gave him immediate jock points, and was widely considered to be good-looking and tall, which increased his popularity among a good portion of the student population. He’s talkative, loud, _obnoxious,_ probably has very few brain cells, has too high of an opinion of himself, and, Kenma thinks, is constantly trying to aggravate people. He goes to parties every weekend, people say. Plus, rumor has it he’s hooked up with more people than can be counted on two hands. He’s the exact opposite of Kenma. Therefore, Kenma absolutely does not want to spend time with him.

 

But unfortunately, Mrs. Kirkwood had all but given him an ultimatum, so here he is, arms crossed as he sits at a table in the library, waiting on the bane of his existence to show up.

 

Tetsurou is five minutes late, in typical inconsiderate fashion. Kenma fixates his stinkiest glare on Tetsurou. Annoyingly, Tetsurou just sits down with a stupid smirk on his face. “God, you could at least pretend to be pleased to see me, y’know?”

 

“I’ll pass,” Kenma says. He, well, hasn’t exactly been subtle at hiding his disdain for Tetsurou over the years, and it’s not like he’s going to start now.

 

Tetsurou rolls his eyes. “I’m not ecstatic to be here spending my spare time tutoring a slacker either. I’m doing you a damn favor here.”

 

“Then quit,” Kenma says. “Maybe that way Mrs. Kirkwood’ll give me a new tutor that’s not completely unbearable.”

 

The smirk stretches back out on Tetsurou’s lips. “Nah, I think I’m good, actually. I’m not gonna give you the satisfaction.”

 

Kenma does not like yelling. He doesn’t like causing trouble or getting in trouble, either, aside from slacking off a little in his schoolwork. So instead of screaming in Tetsurou’s face, he takes a deep breath in and exhales slowly, his hands clenching into fists under the table. He’s not going to fight. Besides, by his calculations, Tetsurou’s stats are a hell of a lot higher than Kenma’s in every area besides strategy, which means Kenma would absolutely get his ass kicked. “Whatever. Can we just get this over with so that I can get out of here?”

 

Tetsurou stares at him, his eyes cold, then shakes his head. “Fine. What exactly are you stuck on?”

“Uh, how exactly would I know that?” Kenma asks. “It’s not like I know what I don’t know.”

 

Tetsurou places a hand on his forehead and looks down. “I guess we’re gonna be going over everything in the fucking book, then. Okay, can you at least tell me what matter is?”

 

“Matter is stuff,” Kenma says grumpily. When Tetsurou looks like he’s going to say something, Kenma sighs and continues. “Like physical stuff, as opposed to energy. I’m not an idiot.”

 

“Oh, I know,” Tetsurou says. “You’re just lazy as hell, aren’t you, Kenma Kozume?”

“Shocked you even know my name. Didn’t think people like _you_ even bothered to learn the names of side characters like me.”

 

“People like me, huh? Funnily enough, you don’t know shit about people like me.”

 

“And I don’t want to. Next topic.”

 

Tetsurou pinches the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Let’s talk about atoms. Tell me about the three parts of an atom…”

 

.

 

“I’m going to die,” Kenma says dramatically as he sits down at his lunch table later that day. “I’m serious this time. I can’t survive this.”

 

Keiji Akaashi lifts an eyebrow at him in concern as he bites into his sandwich. “Uh, what exactly happened?”

 

“I have to have a Chem tutor, and of course Mrs. Kirkwood assigned me to Tetsurou fucking Kuroo,” Kenma grumbles, angrily stabbing at his salad.

 

“Ew,” Kei Tsukishima says with a shudder. “You have my deepest sympathies.” Kei might be the only person Kenma knows that hates Testurou more than Kenma does, apparently because Tetsurou’s noticed that Kei is especially easy to rile up and takes every opportunity to poke fun at him. Kenma’s just glad to have someone fully on his side.

 

“He’s kind of scary, but he doesn’t seem so bad!” Shouyou chirps, because of course he would think so.

 

“Koutarou likes him,” Keiji says. Kenma rolls his eyes internally, because of course Keiji would put a lot of stock into the opinion of the guy he’s had a crush on for way too long, the football team’s star, Koutarou Bokuto. Keiji had finally started to talk to him after the two of them got assigned to be lab partners in their chemistry class and none of the rest of the group has known peace since. “He says he’s funny.”

 

“He’s not funny; he’s obnoxious,” Kenma says flatly. “And he called me lazy about ten times in our _first meeting._ ”

 

Keiji, unfortunately, has known him far too long to take this at face value. “What did you call him?”

 

Kenma sighs and stares down at his tray. “Nothing much. Just… unbearable. Annoying. Obnoxious. Maybe more.”

 

“Kenmaaaaa,” Shouyou whines. “Can’t you at least try to get along with him?”

 

“There’s no getting along with that rat-hair bastard,” Kei says darkly. Kenma’s suddenly very grateful for him.

 

“You have to be tutored by him for the rest of the semester, at least!” Shouyou says. “You should at least try to make it easier!”

 

“He has a point,” Keiji points out. “Unless, of course, you want to suffer for the entirety of the semester. Then by all means, continue antagonizing him.”

 

“You’re all terrible friends. You’re supposed to support me in my hatred,” Kenma complains. “Kei’s the only one that’s supportive.”

 

“I don’t need your praise.”

 

“I take it back.”

 

.

 

Kenma spends the next week as usual: going straight home after school, avoiding contact with anyone besides his three friends, spending his evenings playing Breath of the Wild on his Switch until he passes out and gets scolded the next morning by his mother. And then, the very next Wednesday, he gets stuck in his next tutoring session with the king of all dickheads.

 

“It’s going to be hard to tutor you if you’re looking at me like you’ve just smelled shit the entire time,” Tetsurou complains, scowling at him.

 

“You’ll get over it,” Kenma says, slumping down in his chair.

 

“Once again, you’re determined to make everything as fucking difficult as possible, I see. Fine. Whatever. Today we’re gonna talk about electron configurations. So basically, electrons are distributed into different orbitals…”

 

Although Kenma is loath to admit it, Tetsurou is oddly good at explaining scientific concepts. It’s a little at odds with Kenma’s idea of Tetsurou, but Kenma figures even the dumbest of people can have one subject that they’re good at. Besides that, the concept itself also isn’t super hard to understand. After a few minutes of explanation and a couple of examples, Kenma’s able to do it himself for a few elements. Tetsurou lifts an eyebrow at him. “You know, if you put even a little bit of effort into your schoolwork, you could be at the top of the class too.”

 

“Too bad I don’t give a shit about schoolwork,” Kenma mumbles, staring at the paper in front of him. “I just want to pass. Nothing else matters.”

 

“What about college?” Tetsurou asks. “Don’t you have any goals for the future?”

 

“To get there, I guess?” Kenma says back, rolling his eyes. “It’s not important.”

 

“You’re so goddamn lazy,” Tetsurou says, frowning.

 

“Sure,” Kenma says. “And you’re annoying, and you’re wasting my time.”

 

Tetsurou pauses, stares at him with his dark eyes for a second. Kenma doesn’t enjoy it. Usually, he’s the one doing the observing; sizing people up before they can so much as talk to him. But to be observed isn’t necessarily a good feeling. Finally, Tetsurou shakes his head. “You know, I don’t get why you hate me so much.”

 

“You literally just called me lazy.”

 

“Yeah, so I’d get if you’d just started hating me then,” Tetsurou says. “But you’ve hated me ever since I moved here. And I’ve barely even spoken to you, because every time I do, all I get is vitriol.”

 

Vitriol is not a word that Kenma would expect someone like Tetsurou to know or to utilize. He studies Tetsurou’s face for a moment, and there’s no sign of misplaced pride, like Tetsurou had just memorized it to seem smart or something. _Weird,_ Kenma thinks, but it’s nowhere near enough to shift Kenma’s opinion. “You just aren’t my type of person,” Kenma says. “I knew you’d get on my nerves from the first time that I saw you, and I’ve been nothing but right so far.”

 

“You’re full of shit. I don’t even talk to you.”

 

“People talk, and I hear things I don’t like.”

 

Tetsurou smiles at that, a smile that clearly isn’t sincere, that bares his teeth like he’s prepared to fight, almost. “You’re so fucking presumptuous, you know that? You get these ideas in your head of what people are like when you don’t have a single fucking clue about them. I didn’t have any strong feelings about you either way until I tried to talk to you back in middle school and you told me to fuck off.”

 

“And yet here you are, still talking to me like I’m listening.”

 

“You’re the most irritating creature on the planet,” Tetsurou growls. “Listen, I don’t know why you insist on pushing people away - “

 

“I do not.”

 

“You do.”

 

“I don’t.”

 

“Yes, you do. And don’t give me that ‘I have friends’ bullshit, because I know you talk to Keiji and Kei and that loud little redhead, but I have never once heard of you hanging out with anyone outside of school.” Tetsurou smirks. “I don’t get why you do it, but it’s gonna come back to bite you in the ass eventually. Just something to think about.” His smirk widens as he gathers up his books. “See you next week.”

 

Kenma clenches his fists in an attempt to stop himself from letting loose a string of curses a mile long. He absolutely despises Tetsurou Kuroo, he decides. And that much will never change.

 

.

 

“He’s really not bad,” Keiji says as they walk to class. “You just… occasionally have a bad habit of antagonizing people.”

 

Kenma furrows his brow. “I don’t antagonize people.”

 

“If you decide you don’t like them for whatever reason, you do, what with the snarky comments under your breath and stuff,” Keiji says, and before Kenma can argue back, he continues, “And Tetsurou does the same thing, just directly, to your face. He likes to rile people up. So it’s no wonder you two don’t get along. But I think you could, if you put in effort.”

 

“I don’t think there’s a universe in existence where Tetsurou and I would get along,” Kenma says.

 

“You won’t know if you don’t try,” Keiji says, and then adds, “Tetsurou’s really smart.” Kenma just raises an eyebrow, and Keiji continues, “Honestly. I know that Koutarou… doesn’t exactly come off as the sharpest tool in the shed. And he tends to generally get other people acting in ways that are also idiotic at times. But Tetsurou is near the top of the class, really good GPA, in all Honors and AP courses. He’s no idiot.”

 

“Doesn’t change the fact that he’s a shitty person,” Kenma mumbles.

 

“I don’t see why you think that,” Keiji says. “Not every popular athlete is the devil, you know.”

 

“I’ve heard what people say.”

 

“Yeah, and last year someone started a rumor that you were a serial killer because you don’t talk in class,” Keiji says, rolling his eyes. “Be reasonable. Not all rumors havebasis in reality.” Keiji gives a small smile. “Besides, my heart is spoken for, but he’s still kind of good-looking, don’t you think?”

 

“No, I don’t,” Kenma replies, and decidedly does not think about the fact that objectively, Tetsurou doesn’t look that bad when he’s not being overly smug.

 

.

 

Kenma observes Tetsurou in the cafeteria the next day. Tetsurou sits in the middle of his lunch table, surrounded by people - Koutarou on his left, some really tall sophomore with light hair on his right. There are cheerleaders swarming the table, but Tetsurou doesn’t really seem to pay them any mind, instead talking in a fairly loud tone with Koutarou about some movie they’d seen over the weekend. It’s kind of odd, Kenma thinks to himself. For someone with such a playboy reputation, he doesn’t actually see Tetsurou talking to girls that often.

 

“You seem distracted,” Kei says, staring at him with a cold gaze.

 

“Hey, isn’t that Tetsurou’s table!” Shouyou chirps. “Are you staring at him? Oh, do you have a crush? I always thought there was a fine line between love and -“

  
“No, I’m not staring at him,” Kenma interrupts.

 

Keiji just lifts an eyebrow. “Uh huh.”

 

“I’m just observing how obnoxious he is,” Kenma says.

 

“You know, I also hate his guts, but I don’t really make a point of watching him constantly,” Kei tells him dryly.

 

“It’s a one time thing,” Kenma protests.

 

“Anyways, Koutarou invited me to a get-together this weekend, if any of you are interested,” Keiji says. “He said I’m welcome to bring my friends. He wants to get to know you better, I guess.”

 

“I wanna go!” Shouyou chirps.

 

Kei snickers. “….so you can stare at that point guard that has half a brain cell?”

 

Shouyou pouts. “I never said that.”

 

“Well, I think I’ll pass on this one,” Kei says, rolling his eyes. “I have plans already.”

 

Kei is the only one of their group who actually has a boyfriend, by some miracle, Kenma thinks. Kei has known his boyfriend since they were young children and, apparently, somewhere along the way it had turned into something deeper. Honestly, Kenma doesn’t know too much about the boyfriend; Kei is oddly protective over him and since they never really hang out outside of school, Kenma’s never met him. It’s obvious that he’s involved in these plans, though, by the tiny bit of pink on Kei’s cheeks. Keiji turns to Kenma last. “I know it’s useless asking you, but…”

 

Tetsurou’s words echo in Kenma’s head: _you insist on pushing people away. Never heard of you hanging out with people outside of school._ God, he really gets Kenma’s blood boiling. And apparently there’s some part of Kenma that’s insistent on proving him wrong, because he says, “I’ll go.”

 

Keiji blinks, looking shocked for a second, before he shrugs. “Seriously? Uh, okay then. We’ll all go together this Friday around 8, sound good?”

 

Kenma nods, drifting back into his own thoughts. At the end of lunch, though, Kei nudges him as they walk to the trash cans. “You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone, you know.”

 

Kenma just shrugs. “I just want to see how things go, I guess.”

 

“Good luck,” Kei says, his face expressionless.

 

.

 

Kenma is not the party type of guy.

  
This becomes obvious within a minute of walking into the ‘get-together’, as Keiji had called it, and looking around to see bodies pressed together, bowls full of a weird-looking punch, and hearing music so loud it might just cause his eardrums to burst. Shouyou’s face lights up, though, and all the more as he spots the point guard guy that Kei had been teasing him about.

 

“Koutarou!” Keiji says with a smile as Koutarou Bokuto surfaces from the crowd.

 

“Keiji, man, I’m so glad you could make it!” Koutarou says, grinning from ear to ear. “And these must be your friends, huh? Oh my god, I’m so happy I get to meet your friends! Hey, hey, hey, I’m Koutarou Bokuto!”

 

“We know!” Shouyou chirps happily. “Keiji talks about you all the time!” Kenma makes a mental note not to let Shouyou near any of his crushes, should he ever have one.

 

“Aw, that’s good to hear,” Koutarou says without skipping a beat.

 

Keiji groans, his cheeks reddening. “Koutarou, these are my friends - for now - Shouyou Hinata and Kenma Kozume.”

 

“Nice to meet you!” Shouyou says happily.

 

Koutarou returns the pleasantries, and then turns to Kenma. “Hey, I’ve heard about you!”

 

“For the record,” Kenma says, “I’m not a serial killer.”

 

Koutarou laughs loudly. “Keiji told me you were funny! But I’ve only heard ‘bout you from Keiji, no worries, nothing about you being a serial killer!” As much as Kenma doesn’t want to like anyone remotely associated with Tetsurou, there’s something endearing about Koutarou, and Kenma can see why Keiji likes him. He becomes a little less endearing, though, when he yells, “Hey, Tetsu, come over here!”

 

Kenma just wants to crawl up and die as Tetsurou weaves through the crowd, over to where the group of them are standing. “Hey, Bo, I was looking for you,” he says, grinning and slugging Koutarou lightly in the arm.

 

Koutarou grins. “You know Keiji, and these are Keiji’s friends: Shouyou Hinata,” Shouyou waves, smiling, “and Kenma Kozume.”

 

Tetsurou nods to Shouyou, then raises an eyebrow at Kenma. “We’ve met.”

 

“Oh, you know each other? Great! Then you can keep Kenma company while Keiji and I go get a drink real quick,” Koutarou says excitedly. “And I wanna take Shouyou over to talk to Tobio, since Keiji says Shouyou has a crush on him!”

 

Shouyou’s eyes widen and he blushes. Keiji sighs and tells Koutarou, “A little bit more subtlety would be appreciated.”

Kenma’s about to protest and he can tell from the look on Tetsurou’s face that he’s about to do the same, but before either of them can, Keiji’s darting off, dragging both Koutarou and Shouyou away with him. Kenma decides that he is not at all happy with Keiji Akaashi. Keiji _will_ be hearing about this later.

 

Tetsurou smirks his stupid smirk and crossing his arms, leaning back against the wall. He glances over at Kenma. “You don’t come to parties usually.”

 

“And believe me, I’m wishing I hadn’t come to this one either,” Kenma says with a groan.

 

“You look miserable,” Tetsurou states matter-of-factly.

 

“Thanks. You know I always appreciate your input so much.”

 

“Aw, thank you, I love getting compliments from my admirers.” Rather than reply, Kenma fishes his PSP out of his pockets and starts it up, figuring it’ll make for a welcome distraction. Tetsurou sighs. “I would say I can’t believe you brought your gaming system to a party, but it seems on-brand from what I know about you. Why’d you even come here, anyways, if you’re just gonna hide in a corner and play games?”

 

“I came because Keiji invited me,” Kenma mumbles, not glancing up from his game. “I wasn’t expecting to be left alone with Asshole of the Year.”

 

“Aw, I’m so honored to have been selected for this honor,” Tetsurou says, putting a hand over his heart. “Where do I collect my prize?”

 

“Preferably as far away from me as possible.”

 

“You’re no fun,” Tetsurou says.

 

“You can leave at any time, you know.”

 

“Ehh,” Tetsurou says, putting a hand on his chin like he’s thinking. “I think I’ll stick around for a little bit. Just because you seem to hate it.” He leans forward, too far into into Kenma’s personal space, his eyes on the PSP in Kenma’s hand. “Oh shit, that Metal Gear?”

 

Kenma nearly jumps. He certainly wasn’t expecting Tetsurou to know anything about games, really, much less recognize what game he’s playing. Hesitantly, he says, “Uh, yeah. Peace Walker.”

“The third one was always my favorite,” Tetsurou says with a shrug. “That final battle… there’s nothing like it.”

 

“Peace Walker has a better story.”

 

“It most certainly does not. Maybe if you’re emotionally constipated.”

 

“Like you can talk,” Kenma gripes. “Besides, Peace Walker is more portable.”

 

“Three was released for the PS Vita.”

 

“No one owns a PS Vita,” Kenma says, rolling his eyes.

 

Tetsurou raises an eyebrow. “Honestly, I thought no one owned a PSP either, but it seems I’ve been proven wrong on that front too.”

 

“Shut up,” Kenma says. “How do you know so much about video games, anyways?”

 

“See, this is what I was talking about,” Tetsurou says. “You’ve already put me into one of your neat little boxes, and so it shocks you when I don’t actually fit into it. I’ve been playing video games since I was a kid, and Metal Gear’s my favorite series. Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that one.”

 

Kenma doesn’t know how to respond to that. He hates how Tetsurou’s able to read him this easily, how he can get under Kenma’s skin with just a few sentences, something that very few people have been able to do. He also hates that he kind of likes arguing with Tetsurou about video games. Frowning, he turns back to his game. “Seriously. You can go back to the party now.”

 

“Another fun fact about me you probably assumed incorrectly, Kozume: I fucking hate parties,” Tetsurou says wryly. “I come because my friends are here, but if I had a choice, I’d rather hang out with them just about anywhere else. Most of the time I try to hang back in the corner, talk to Koutarou or someone one-on-one. So yeah. There you have it.”

 

Kenma presses the buttons on his game a little harder than he needs to. “So you’re a loser?”

 

“Almost as big a loser as you.”

 

“There you go again. I almost feel like you might be human and then you go and say something to piss me off.”

 

Tetsurou laughs. Kenma isn’t expecting it in the least. He presses the pause button and glances up at Tetsurou, who is smiling, actually smiling, not his stupid smirk. Something about it is almost attractive, Kenma thinks, and then immediately hates himself for it. Tetsurou Kuroo is not attractive. His hair sticks up in a weird way - Kenma guesses he must spend twenty minutes each morning in front of the mirror styling it with hair gel, only for it to still look like a rooster’s feathers. His smirk is obnoxious. His eyes are beady, like a rat’s. And he’s terribly tall, which Kenma hates, because that means he makes Kenma feel tiny in comparison. Tetsurou says, “Keiji was right about one thing, I guess. You’re funny as hell.”

 

“I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Kenma insists petulantly.

 

Tetsurou raises one of his stupidly annoying eyebrows. “Funny without trying, then. Even better.”

 

Kenma doesn’t know what that means, really, nor does he want to ask. He turns back to his game, for real this time, and the two of them sit in silence until Koutarou resurfaces with the rest of their friends in tow. As much as Kenma hates to admit it, he’s starting to think he might have been somewhat wrong about Tetsurou, and that terrifies him.

 

.

 

“I can’t believe you,” Kenma says, burying his head in his arms at the lunch table.

 

“I don’t get what the big deal is,” Keiji says. “Koutarou says you two had a perfectly nice conversation about video games.”

 

“You left me with the guy I hate the most in the world.”

 

“Always with the dramatics,” Keiji says with an eye roll. “He isn’t that bad, and I would’ve never left you with him if I didn’t believe the two of you were perfectly able to get along. And you did, didn’t you?”

 

“…that doesn’t matter.”

 

Keiji rolls his eyes. “You’re more similar than you think, you know.”

 

“Both of us liking video games does not make us similar.”

 

Keiji pauses, glances over at Kenma. “You know, I didn’t actually know that he liked video games too before Koutarou told me. But I mean… just the things you say. Your senses of humor. Call me crazy, but one of these days, I feel like you’re going to get along quite well.”

 

“You’re crazy.”

 

With a small laugh, Keiji shakes his head. “Whatever you say, Kenma.”

 

.

 

“So let’s talk about the different types of bonds,” Tetsurou says, opening the textbook and sliding it towards Kenma. “The two major types are ionic and covalent. There’s also hydrogen bonding and metallic bonds, but we don’t really talk about those in class.”

 

“Yet you somehow already know about them,” Kenma says, a challenging note in his tone.

 

“I do.”

 

“Nerd,” Kenma mumbles under his breath.

 

Tetsurou hears it, just like Kenma had intended, and raises an eyebrow at him. “So I’ve gone from meathead jock to irredeemable nerd, huh?”

 

“I never said you were a meathead jock.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure you thought it,” Tetsurou says casually. “I mean, I hang out with Koutarou, I’m on the basketball team, and, as far as most people think, I’m constantly being social. It’s the natural assumption. But you’ve figured out my real form now.” Tetsurou tilts his head so that his gaze meets Kenma. “Hm. Well, I know I’m right now, judging by the expression on your face.”

 

“Why do you have to be so smug all the time,” Kenma grumbles.

 

“Because I’m smart and I know it,” Tetsurou replies. Kenma sends him his stinkiest glare, which unfortunately does not get Tetsurou to take back his ridiculous statement. Instead, Tetsurou just grins. “Now, I know you’re trying to get off-track so you don’t have to do any work, but we’ve got studying to do.”

 

“I was not.”

 

“You were too.”

 

“Was not.”

 

“Were too.”

 

“I hate you so much.”

 

“Turn to page 185, gremlin.”

 

“….the hell did you just call me?”

 

.

 

Kenma would not admit it under threat of gunfire, but for whatever reason, after that, the tutoring sessions become mildly more tolerable. He doesn’t dread the sessions every week anymore. In fact, bickering with Tetsurou is almost… enjoyable. And then he gets his first chemistry test back since Tetsurou started tutoring him and turns it over to see a big, red _95_ on the top with the words _Looks like Tetsurou’s tutoring is working. Keep it up!_ scrawled under it.

 

“So does this mean Tetsurou’s still tutoring me?” he asks Mrs. Kirkwood after class.

 

“It sure does,” Mrs. Kirkwood says, smiling at him in a way that makes Kenma’s stomach churn. “Seems to me like you two are having a lot of success together.”

 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t really mean anything,” Kenma mumbles under his breath petulantly, which just seems to confuse her, so he follows it up with, “Okay. That’s fine, I guess.”

 

Later that day, he takes his test to the library to find Tetsurou sitting there already, an expectant look on his face. Kenma narrows his eyebrows. “How did you know I got my test back?”

 

“I didn’t. I do now.”

 

Kenma groans, collapsing into the chair across from him. “Are you this annoying with everyone else?”

 

“Hm,” Tetsurou says, hand resting on his chin. “Only an elite group of people. You should feel privileged.”

 

“Just tutor me already,” Kenma says, rubbing at his temples.

 

“Anything for you,” Tetsurou drawls. “But hey, uh, we should celebrate.”

 

“Celebrate?” Kenma says, lifting an eyebrow.

 

Tetsurou rolls his eyes. “Yeah, celebrating? You know, that thing normal people do when something good happens?”

 

Kenma scowls back at him. “I know what the definition is. I just don’t know what your idea of celebrating is, or why you’d want to do it with me.”

 

Tetsurou’s brow creases the slightest bit, but then he leans back in his chair, just far enough so that it’s about to tip over. He says, “Like I’ve said before, I’m not really the party type, so nothing like that. I was thinking more… a nice meal. My treat.”

 

“You want to buy me food?” Kenma repeats. Nothing about this is adding up. Tetsurou Kuroo doesn’t like him, right? So why is he wanting to spend more time with Kenma than is strictly necessary, and why would he offer to spend hard-earned money on Kenma? It doesn’t make any sense. But Tetsurou nods in response, an oddly sincere look on his face, and something about the entire situation makes Kenma morbidly curious. So Kenma just shrugs. “Fine, I guess. Just make it somewhere decent.”

 

“Excuse me? As if I would ever choose somewhere gross.”

 

“Not sure I buy that.”

 

“Well, you’ll see then,” Tetsurou says, grinning. “This Friday night.”

 

.

 

“It is not a date.”

 

Keiji just stares at him. “He asked you to go out with him on a Friday night to a restaurant, alone, and offered to pay for your meal. There’s no way you’re this dense.”

 

“In celebration. Because I scored well on my test.”

 

“When I score well on my tests, I don’t typically ask my teachers out to eat,” Kei says dryly.

 

Kenma scowls. “It’s just one dinner.”

 

“Well, think of it this way,” Keiji says in his normal calm manner. “Say it were a date. What would you say?”

 

Kenma takes a second to think. His gut reaction is to childishly squeal out a “No, of course not!” with his nose in the air. But is that the truth? He lets himself think deeper, beyond the surface, perhaps for the first time. Tetsurou is annoying as hell, sure. But… well, maybe, just maybe… no one that cares so deeply about Metal Gear games can be that bad, right? And he had been really excited when Kenma had gotten a good score on the test, and sometimes… sometimes when he smiles Kenma can see a light in his eyes that makes Kenma feel a little tingly inside. Also, though Kenma will never admit it, he’s not that bad-looking - from some angles, at least.

 

“Your silence is telling!” Shouyou says with a knowing grin.

 

“Oh my god,” Kenma mutters, burying his head in his arms. “I hate him.”

 

“Damn, Kenma,” Kei says. “Who knew you’d be the one at this table with the worst taste in men?”

 

“I hate you too.”

 

.

 

Tetsurou offers to drive Kenma, which Kenma does not completely trust, but agrees to simply because he doesn’t have a license (or a car) yet and doesn’t want to shell out the money for an Uber. The main problem with this plan, though, is that he has to inform his mother that someone is coming to pick him up and take him to dinner.

 

“Kenma!” she gasps. “Oh my god, my son is going on his first date, and here I thought it’d never happen…”

 

“Mom, please,” he says, hanging his head. “It’s not like that.” He finds that it’s hard to say when he doesn’t fully believe it himself.

 

To make matters worse, Tetsurou comes to the door to collect him, which just further demonstrates that maybe Tetsurou isn’t some awful womanizer after all. Kenma opens the door, and Tetsurou greets him with a wide grin. Desperately, Kenma tries to slip by him. “Let’s get out of here.”

 

“You seem to be in a hurry,” Tetsurou says, his grin curving into one of his stupid smirks. “Is there something you’re trying to avoid…?”

 

“Just move,” Kenma complains. “Seriously, we have to go or else -“

 

“Not so fast, kiddo,” comes his mother’s voice from behind him, and Kenma groans, hanging his head in defeat. “Hi there! You must be Kenma’s friend! I’m his mother; you can call me Mrs. Kozume. And you are?”

 

“Tetsurou Kuroo,” Tetsurou says, extending a hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Kozume. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I took Kenma here to dinner tonight.”

 

Kenma’s mother looks Tetsurou up and down from head to toe. Once she finishes, her eyes fall back onto his face and she nods approvingly. “Hm, I think that would be okay. It’s nice to meet you too, Tetsurou. And Kenma, don’t you stay out too late.” As Kenma turns to shut the door, she mouths ‘good catch’ at him, and it takes all of his self-restraint not to slam the door in her face.

 

“You certainly lay it on thick,” Kenma grumbles as he turns to walk towards the car.

 

“What can I say?” Tetsurou says, beaming. “Parents love me.”

 

“Too bad I can’t say the same for people your own age.”

 

“You’re just jealous,” Tetsurou says, but the jab has no heat behind it. He opens Kenma’s car door for him, lets Kenma get in, and then closes it for him.

 

Kenma lifts an eyebrow after Tetsurou gets settled in. “Is this the treatment all your girlfriends get?”

 

“My girlfriends?” Tetsurou says, narrowing his eyes while he starts up the car. “Damn, I knew the rumor mill was wild, but I didn’t think it’d get _that_ out of hand.”

 

“…what does that mean?”

 

Tetsurou gives a small, short laugh. “I thought it was pretty obvious, but uh, I’m not really interested in girls? Wow, Kenma, you really don’t know anything about me.”

 

“So you’re… into guys?”

 

Without even glancing away from the road, Tetsurou snorts. “Yeah, that’s what I’m implying. But so are you.”

 

It’s said so matter-of-factly that Kenma can’t find any room to argue. Besides, it’s the truth. He just shrugs. “I mean, clearly.”

 

“Well, shit. Keiji told me you were observant, but you couldn’t figure out something so obvious about me? I’m disappointed.”

 

“Are you going to be this irritating the entire time?”

 

The corner of Tetsurou’s mouth turns up. “That’s my job, isn’t it?”

They don’t talk a lot between Kenma’s house and the restaurant, mostly just Tetsurou making off-hand comments about random things: school, Keiji and Koutarou, video games. Finally, Tetsurou pulls into a parking lot, and Kenma stares out the window. _Retro Cafe?_ Huh. Well, he certainly hasn’t been here before. He turns to Tetsurou, a questioning look on his face, and Tetsurou beams back at him. “Welcome to my favorite place in this hellhole of a town.”

 

Kenma feels his traitorous heart skip a beat. Suddenly, it’s very clear to him that Tetsurou’s brought him to somewhere very important to him. He doesn’t know exactly what that means. “W… what is this?” he asks carefully.

 

“Can you not read the sign?”

 

“Forgive me if _Retro Cafe_ isn’t the most descriptive sign on the planet.”

 

Tetsurou rolls his eyes, but the smile doesn’t leave his lips. “It’s just a place that specializes in retro decor and shit, but also, they have some of the old-school style arcade video games. And I thought you might, uh, want to play them.”

 

Kenma tries not to let his expression give away his excitement, but he’s sure Tetsurou can tell anyways, judging by the smug expression that falls over Tetsurou’s face. “I guess that’s fine,” Kenma says flatly.

 

Tetsurou sighs. “Yeah, right. You’re hard to deal with, you know that? It’s okay to smile every once in a while.”

 

Kenma glares at him, but doesn’t push off Tetsurou when he takes a loose hold of Kenma’s wrist to lead him into the restaurant. Tetsurou gets a table for two in the corner, Kenma’s favorite table position, which also happens to be near the arcade games. When they sit down, Kenma can’t help but glance over at the collection of arcade games. Tetsurou just smiles. “You can go play, it’s fine. I’ll wait here and order. You got any dietary restrictions? Anything you don’t like?”

 

“I like apple pie,” Kenma says.

 

Tetsurou shakes his head. “That’s not a meal.”

 

“The only people who say that are people who hate fun.”

 

“How about I order the pie, I order a meal for me, and we split a salad?”

 

Kenma pauses, considering. It’s not the worst trade-off, though he’s not sure why Tetsurou cares so much about the nutritional value of Kenma’s diet. A second passes, and then he shrugs. “Whatever.”

 

After he orders, Tetsurou joins him at the arcade machines. They decide to play each other in Street Fighter. Unsurprisingly, Tetsurou is not all that good at video games, or at the very least, he’s terrible at Street Fighter. Kenma crushes him every round. Every single time he does, Tetsurou vows that he won’t be so lucky next time. Kenma sighs after the fifth declaration of vengeance. “Are you ever going to give it up?”

 

Tetsurou glances over at him, his bottom lip poked out. Kenma has to repeat _it’s not cute_ to himself about twenty times in his head, and even then he doesn’t fully believe it. “I might suck at this game, but I kick ass at Mario Kart. You’ll have to come over and play it sometime.”

 

Kenma blinks. “That was almost smooth.”

 

“That was totally smooth, what are you talking about?”

 

“Hm. I’d like that, for the record.”

 

“Oh… pfft…. uh, okay then.” Tetsurou turns red, one hand going up to scratch the back of his neck.

 

“And there, see, you ruined it.”

 

.

 

Tetsurou likes to talk, Kenma finds. And weirdly enough, Kenma doesn’t mind listening.

 

Tetsurou talks about all kinds of things - basketball, but also a sport he apparently loves, volleyball, which isn’t offered for the boys at their school. He says that he’d petitioned the school to start a volleyball team, and the school had said fine. However, to start the team, he had to get enough people that were interested first, and “unfortunately I could only get Tooru and Koutarou to join, which does not a team make.” He talks about how he wants to go into medicine eventually because of his grandma, who had been recently diagnosed with dementia. And the more he talks, the more Kenma realizes that he’d been completely fucking wrong about Tetsurou Kuroo.

 

It’s not just Tetsurou who does all the talking, either. He asks Kenma questions: about Kenma’s favorite video games, about what Kenma’s interested in, about the coding projects Kenma works on, about his family, about Kenma’s cat, and Kenma answers. Oddly enough, it’s easy to talk to Tetsurou. Kenma doesn’t second-guess everything he says to Tetsurou, because the things Tetsurou harps on him about aren’t sensitive subjects; Tetsurou seems to know enough to avoid anything sensitive. And then, in the middle of one of Tetsurou’s stories, Kenma laughs, and Tetsurou stops, his mouth forming an “O” shape.

 

“Is everything okay…?” Kenma asks, puzzled.

 

“Uh, yeah, fine,” Tetsurou chokes out, then takes a big swig of the water glass in front of him. “Anyways… where was I? Oh yeah, the mall cops were not happy with us at all, so we got a thirty day ban…”

 

Even after they finish their food, they hang around for another hour or so until Tetsurou glances at his phone and says, “Shit, it’s late. I promised your mom I’d have you home early.”

 

Kenma sighs. “That doesn’t matter.”

 

“Does so,” Tetsurou protests. Once Tetsurou’s paid the bill and they get into the car, he turns to Kenma, something earnest in his eyes. “So, uh, do you still hate me?” he asks abruptly.

 

Kenma tries to stop himself from sighing aloud. “What do you think?” he replies.

  
“Well, I hope not,” Tetsurou says. “But according to reliable sources, I can be a little bit oblivious sometimes.”

 

Kenma pauses for a second, stares at him - at his dark, messy hair that falls into his eyes as he speaks, at those dark eyes that fixate on him with an intensity that sends a chill up his spine, at the sharp curvature of his jaw. At his admittedly very attractive face. And he says, “I hate that I don’t hate you. And I hate that I was pretty much completely wrong about you, because I hate being wrong.”

 

The corners of Tetsurou’s mouth twist up slightly. “That’s a lot of hate for such a sweet confession.”

 

Kenma crosses his arms and slumps down in his seat. He stares downward, his face heating up. “Who says it’s a confession?”

 

“Hm,” Tetsurou hums, and then there’s something warm on the side of Kenma’s face. He glances up to see Tetsurou’s hand against his cheek and Tetsurou staring at him, his gaze even more intense than before. “Uh, um, d’you mind if I, uh…’

 

“You really are terrible at being smooth, but go ahead,” Kenma replies, his stomach twisting in anticipation as Tetsurou starts to lean in towards him. The moment their lips brush, Kenma’s heart jumps in his chest and he wants _more_ all of a sudden. He feels Tetsurou’s arms wrap around his waist, and he puts his arms around Tetsurou’s neck, drawing him in closer. Tetsurou’s hand rubs his back gently as he pulls back slightly, his forehead still resting against Kenma’s.

 

“Kenma Kozume,” Tetsurou murmurs, “you are absolutely killing me.”

 

Kenma waits a few seconds to get his breath back, then says, “So you don’t hate me either, I’m guessing.”

 

Tetsurou laughs. “Oh, wow, you are observant. Small correction, though: I never hated you.”

 

“Then why argue with me? Why call me names?”

 

“I like provoking people,” Tetsurou says, looking a little too smug. “Which is the reason your pal Kei hates me. And also you kept insulting me, which made me want to insult you back. But I always thought you were… interesting. Funny. And pretty. Gorgeous, actually. Just a little on the testy side.”

 

“So charming,” Kenma says sarcastically.

 

“I even liked the snark,” Tetsurou says, pressing a quick kiss to Kenma’s forehead before he pulls away. “Um, well, this might be a little too soon, but…”

 

Kenma barely even takes a second to think before he says, “Yes.”

 

“I didn’t finish!” Tetsurou protests.

 

“Well, I knew you what you were going to say,” Kenma says. “You were going to ask me to be your boyfriend.”

 

“…how’d you know?”

 

“I’m observant, remember?” Kenma says, and he doesn’t pull away when Tetsurou leans over to kiss him again.

 

(They end up getting home just a little bit later than Tetsurou had promised, and his mom is only a _little_ bit mad.)

 

.

 

“Oh my god!” Shouyou shrieks at a volume far too loud for the cafeteria. “You’re dating Tetsurou?!”

 

“You might say that,” Kenma says.

 

Kei sighs deeply. “And here I thought you were the only one with a semblance of sanity in this entire school. Then you go and date Satan himself.”

 

Slowly, Kenma shakes his head. “He’s not like that. Actually, he’s not anything like I thought he was. He’s still incredibly annoying, yeah, but he’s not… Keiji was right. Nothing people say about him is true.”

 

“Excuse me, what was that?” Keiji says, lifting an eyebrow. “Did you just admit that Keiji was right?”

 

“….maybe.”

 

Thankfully, before Keiji can rub it in any further, Keiji’s attention is stolen by Koutarou walking over to their table, Tetsurou at his heels. Keiji smiles and waves at them, and Kei says, “Well, I guess we’ll get to see the extent of Kenma’s betrayal in just a second.”

 

Kenma stares at the ground, his stomach in knots and his cheeks heating up. It’s his first time seeing Tetsurou at school since they’d started dating; over the weekend, they’d exchanged a few texts here and there and Tetsurou had called him Saturday night, but it’s not like seeing him in person. Tetsurou, true to character, makes a beeline for Kenma as Koutarou turns to the rest of the group, greeting them effusively. “Hey,” he says, and Kenma finds that he kind of likes the way his neutral expression, which is more of a smirk, softens into a smile upon seeing Kenma.

 

“Hi,” Kenma says, looking up at him.

 

“D’you mind if I sit here?”

 

“Hm?” Kenma asks. “What, you don’t want to go sit at the popular table?”

“The what?” Tetsurou’s brow narrows. “Damn, you think my table is the popular table? Hey, does that mean you think people actually like me?”

 

“Oh my god, shut up,” Kenma says, tilting his face back down so Tetsurou won’t be able to see that he’s blushing.

 

“But to answer your question, no, I really don’t. I pretty much only talk to Bo and Tooru at that table, anyways, and Bo is here and Tooru will get over it,” Tetsurou explains. “I’d rather sit with my boyfriend.”

 

Kenma guesses that’s a good enough explanation. He pats the chair next to him, and Tetsurou slides in. Under the table, his hand brushes Kenma’s. He glances over at Kenma as if to ask if it’s okay, and Kenma gives a slight nod. Tetsurou intertwines their fingers. A heat slides through Kenma’s fingers as they brush Tetsurou’s, falling over his whole body until it reaches his cheeks. He glances over and realizes everyone is staring at the two of them.

 

Tetsurou grins. “Hey, Four Eyes. Good to see you.”

 

“Fuck off,” Kei growls in response.

 

Kenma sighs, jabbing his elbow into Tetsurou’s side. “For fuck’s sake, at least try to be nice.”

 

“I’m always nice,” Tetsurou complains, but when Kenma fixes him with a glare, he sighs. “Okay, fine. Good to see you, _Kei._ ”

 

Kei looks from Tetsurou to Kenma, smirking from ear to ear. “Damn, Kenma really has you whipped.”

 

Tetsurou turns red and scratches the back of his head. “Something like that.” Kenma wonders how he’d ever thought of Tetsurou as a suave womanizer, when in reality, he’s so quick to fluster. Kenma decides to attempt a little test of sorts. He glances over at Tetsurou, offering him a small, gentle smile. Just as he’d thought, Tetsurou’s eyes widen and he nearly chokes on the bite of hamburger he’s just put in his mouth. Kenma laughs to himself.

 

“Aw!” Shouyou squeals. “Oh my god, are you two holding hands? That’s so cute!”

 

Kenma smirks and squeezes Tetsurou’s hand. “Something like that.”

 

.

 

One negative of dating a sports star, Kenma’s quickly realized, is that he’s going to have to attend Tetsurou’s games or risk being called the world’s worst boyfriend. So he and Keiji decide to group up and go together. Before the game starts, Tetsurou finds him in the hallway and parks himself directly in Kenma’s path. Kenma groans. “You can go ahead, Keiji. I’ll meet you inside.”

 

Keiji smirks, one of his eyebrows rising suggestively. “Fine. Have fun, Kenma.”

 

“Oh, shut up,” Kenma mumbles in response, looking up at Tetsurou, who steps forward to wrap his arms around Kenma. Kenma wants to protest, to push him away, because he’s still not used to the open affection that Tetsurou seems to love to shower him with, but he can’t make himself do it. Instead, he buries his face in Tetsurou’s chest and holds on tight.

 

“Thanks for coming,” Tetsurou mumbles into his hair. “I was getting sick of being the only one on the team with no one in the stands cheering for me.”

 

“Who says I’m cheering for you? Maybe I’m here for, uh… that scary point guard.”

 

“Tobio?” Tetsurou laughs, making his whole body shake. “Sure. I’m sure your zero words spoken to each other have created a deep bond.”

 

“We don’t need words,” Kenma says, unable to stop himself from smiling in response. “Our bond goes beyond that.”

 

“You’re such an ass,” Tetsurou says. He presses a gentle kiss to the top of Kenma’s head. “Hey, you didn’t bring a jacket?”

 

“It’s warm today,” Kenma says.

 

Tetsurou shakes his head disapprovingly. “It’s cold in the gym. You’re gonna get sick. Hang on.” He darts over to his bag and resurfaces with his varsity jacket in his hands, draping it over Kenma’s shoulder. Kenma glances up at him as if to protest, and Tetsurou shakes his head. “Nope, you’re wearing it.”

 

“You don’t mind?”

 

“Kenma, baby,” Tetsurou says, his eyes wide and cheeks red again as he stares down at Kenma, “I don’t mind at all.”

 

“So you’re being perverted.”

 

“I didn’t say that! Isn’t it natural to want to see the person you like wearing your jacket?”

 

“So you like me?”

 

“God, Kenma, why do you enjoy making my life difficult? Of course I… of course I like you. I’d never have started dating you if I didn’t.”

 

Kenma rolls his eyes but decides that’s enough making Tetsurou’s life difficult for the present moment. Instead, he stretches upwards. Tetsurou seems to get the hint, because he leans downwards, pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss. Kenma pulls back after just a second and says, “Good luck.”

 

“Oh, it’s going to be amazing,” Tetsurou says, grinning down at him with the dopiest of smiles on his face. “Now I have my good luck charm. Nothing’s gonna stop us now.”

 

It’s completely and utterly nonsensical, Kenma thinks, but he still lets Tetsurou lean in to kiss him again, cradling his face gently in between his hands. He steps back afterwards and says, “You’d better get going before you’re late for your own game, stupid.”

 

Tetsurou just winks at him and blows a kiss as he walks off. _Idiot,_ Kenma thinks. _Charming idiot._

 

Kenma joins Keiji in the bleachers. As soon as he walks up, though, Keiji’s eyebrows lift and his jaw drops a little bit. “Well, aren’t you the high school cliche?” he asks in a smart-alecky tone.

 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Kenma replies, crossing his arms across his chest.

 

“Showing up to your jock boyfriend’s big game while wearing his varsity jacket,” Keiji says teasingly. “And drawing all the attention while you’re at it, because suddenly the gamer geek is dating the superstar basketball player.”

 

“Oh shit,” Kenma says, realizing that the eyes of everyone else in the bleachers are on him, people whispering on every side. He sighs and pulls himself further into Tetsurou’s jacket, wondering if maybe he can convince it to swallow him whole. But of course Tetsurou takes that moment to stare up at him in the stands, so Kenma has to reluctantly kind of remove himself from his jacket burrito to smile at his boyfriend. Tetsurou’s entire face lights up and he does some kind of stupid, goofy wave back at Kenma that has Kenma shaking his head and retreating back into his jacket.

 

The girl behind him says, “So is Tetsurou actually dating that weird antisocial dude? I really thought he liked Aya, you know, the cheerleader with the really blue eyes?”

 

“Oh, me too,” the guy she’s sitting with says eagerly. “But I mean, he looks really happy, so…"

 

“I guess that’s true,” the girl says. “Just sucks if he’s gay, because it means none of us have a chance.”

 

“I do!” the guy says.

  
“Oh, shut up,” the girl replies.

 

Well, it’s not the worst that the gossip about him could be, Kenma thinks as he turns back to the game. Keiji shoots him a knowing smile that he shrugs off as he watches Tetsurou play. Tetsurou is honestly really good. Kenma doesn’t know that much about basketball, but Tetsurou’s able to score and block on a consistent basis, and the crowd chants his name a good bit. And when Tetsurou scores and then looks up at the stands to look for Kenma, a grin gracing his features, Kenma’s traitorous heart flutters in his chest. Keiji starts elbowing him every time it happens, so Kenma makes a point to do the same when Koutarou does something good on the court. Both of them end up with very sore ribcages by the end of the game.

 

Their school wins, though, as expected, and Tetsurou’s gaze drifts back to the stands again, motioning for Kenma to come down. Kenma glances around hesitantly to make sure people are starting to leave before he heads down.

 

When he reaches the bottom, Tetsurou reaches out for him, pulling him into his arms. There are still people around, Kenma’s sure, so he makes the kiss he plants on Tetsurou’s lips extremely brief before he pulls away, his hands tugging at the sleeves of Tetsurou’s jacket he’s still wearing. “Congratulations,” he says softly.

 

Tetsurou kisses his forehead. “Told you you were my good luck charm.”

 

“Shut up,” Kenma says, staring down at the ground again. “Do you want this back?” He motions to the sleeves of the jacket he’s still wearing.

 

Tetsurou smirks. “No, I think you can keep it forever. And keep me forever. Both works.”

 

“You’re so annoying,” Kenma mutters, but his heart is still doing stupid palpitations in his chest. To be certain, he still has very strong feelings about Tetsurou Kuroo, he thinks. It just… seems to manifest more as the opposite of hate these days.

 

There’s a fine line between love and hate, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Kuroken Day 2019!!! In celebration, here's a concept I've been thinking about non-stop for the longest time: love-hate Kuroken, but with all the American high school cliches. I hope you all enjoy, and please leave a comment or kudos if you did :)


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